Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector's Edition [$29.98]

This smorgasbord of “minor Renoir” encompasses and summarizes his career from beginning to end; a bargain for the cinephile, expert or novice. For those who know about Renoir’s philosophical and artistic preference for extended takes and depth of field, they’ll see how experimental, how surreal, how flashily edited, how positively Eisensteinian the young filmmaker was. The earliest four films here, all silent, are vehicles for Renoir’s discovery of what can be done with a camera. [Amazon]

Michael Barrett is a San Antonio-based freelance writer who tries not to leave the house. He has degrees from Trinity University in San Antonio and University of California at Davis. He watches one film a day. In addition to his features and reviews on PopMatters, see also his PopMatters column, Canon Fodder. Since the early '90s he has written a monthly video column for the San Antonio Express-News, and his national publications include Library Journal and the Chicago-based Nostalgia Digest.